All You Need is Faith
by Knife Hand
Summary: In desperation, with the threat of Dolores Umbridge hanging over his head, Dumbledore reaches out to find a new DADA Professor. What he gets is a survivor, a warrior and a rebel… who can't do magic. But maybe this Dark Slayer is exactly what Hogwarts needs. Chapter 5 up.
1. Chapter 1

Title: All You Need is Faith.

Author: Knife Hand

Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated

Spoilers: None.

Rating: R

Disclaimer: I do not own either Buffy or Harry Potter.

Summary: In desperation, with the threat of Dolores Umbridge hanging over his head, Dumbledore reaches out to find a new DADA Professor. What he gets is a survivor, a warrior and a rebel… who can't do magic. But maybe this Dark Slayer is exactly what Hogwarts needs.

* * *

Harry wondered what DADA would be like this year. In general he did not expect it to be that good a year. At the end of last year he had fought Voldemort and watched Cedric die; then over the summer he had been vilified in the press and put on trail for defending himself. Now, for the first time the DADA professor has not appeared at all during the Welcome Feast. Another thing that was different in this, his Fifth Year, was that the DADA line up had changed, instead of having the class with the Slytherins, which had been the norm up until now, the Gryffindors had it with Hufflepuff.

Harry looked up out of his introspection and saw that Ron had already entered the classroom, and hurried into the room himself. He instantly noticed that the Professor was not at the front desk so, with the paranoia of having all of his previous DADA Professors try to kill him at some point, he looked around and noticed a figure that he concluded must be the Professor in the shadows at the back of the room. Noticing that he had seen them, the Professor nodded to Harry and he sat down, not with Ron but at an empty table, near one with a redheaded and a blonde Hufflepuff he vaguely remembered as Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot, suddenly he wondered at how few classes the Gryffindors actually had with the Hufflepuffs and why they were usually paired up with the Slytherins given the house rivalry.

A few minutes later Hermione entered the classroom, having come from Ancient Runes while Harry and Ron had been in Divination, where the nutball Professor had predicted Harry's death, yet again. Pausing for a second at the door, Hermione's eyes quickly sought out the Professor before taking the seat next to Harry. A few more Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors floated into the room just before the bell.

When the professor emerged from the shadows, she was vastly different than anyone expected. Firstly she looked to be in her early twenties, with long black hair held back in a ponytail. She was dressed in a pair of combat boots; black leather pants that looked skin tight and a black tank top with a few tattoos visible on her biceps. She stalked to the front of the class, lighting up a cigarette as she went then she hopped up to sit on top of the desk facing the class. She shifted her posture to pull the roll out from under her ass as she took a drag of her cigarette. She quickly ran through the roll then looked over the class.

"Right. My name's Faith, and I'll be teaching you Defence this year. By the way, congratulations. Apart from Potter, Bones and Granger, you are all officially dead." She began. "You all came into your Defence classroom and thought nothing was wrong when the teacher was absent. Only these three were aware of their surroundings. The rest of you would have been ambushed."

The Professor took a long drag of her cigarette then let it out into the silence.

"That's unfair." Ron said quietly.

"Weasley, ain't it? Of course the damn thing's unfair. That's why they call it an ambush. Tell me, Weasley. How many exits are there to this room?" Faith asked.

"Two." Ron replied.

"Any one else?" Faith replied.

"Three, Professor." Hermione said, getting some shocked looks. "The door to the corridor, the door to your office and the Trapdoor under Dean's desk."

"You forgot the false bookcase door." Harry added, ignoring the stares he was now getting.

"Fucking right." Faith said, the students all now staring at her in shock. "I assume you two have been in the thick?"

"Thick of what?" Harry asked confused.

"Combat." Faith replied, getting a slow nod from Harry and a shrug from Hermione. "Good, maybe I ain't wasting my time. As for the rest of you, forget your textbooks. I didn't want a textbook but Prof D insisted."

"Professor." Susan Bones said with her hand in the air. "If we are not using the textbook, where will we learn the spells from?"

"Spells?" Faith said with a snort. "All I know about spells is don't speak Latin around the books, Love Spells are a big no-no unless you want the whole place loven' the Boy Toy and scrubbing bubbles amulets are probably not all they cracked up to be. Red and Tiger usually took care of all the Hocus Pocus."

"What?!" Ron exclaimed. "Defence Against the Dark Arts is being taught by a Muggle?"

"This ain't Defence Against the Dark Arts." Faith retorted. "This class will teach you to defend yourself regardless of what you come up against. Give me a simple spell, something seemingly harmless. Something light side, if you will."

"The Geminio Charm. It makes a duplicate of any item that disappears after a few hours." Hermione provided.

"Ok. Now how would you uses the… Geminio Charm, was it? How would you use that in a dangerous situation?" Faith asked. "Ideas? Anyone?"

"Well." Susan began, hesitantly. "If someone was after something, you could use the Charm to make a copy and switch it for the real item, so they think they got what they came for."

"Not bad." Faith said. "You would need to relocate almost immediately though in case they find the deception. How about in a stand up fight? Potter?"

"Thinking up the plan is usually Hermione's job." Harry said with a chuckle. "But I guess, in a stand up fight the bad guys would be after me, so if I could make duplicates of myself that would at least help distract them. Mione, would I need to do an animation spell to get them to move around?"

Hermione's mind was running, considering the possibility.

"Let's table that for the moment. Decoys are a good idea. Another way you could use it would be to duplicate weapons. Knives, arrows or bullets to attack the enemy. Physical shields or barricades to form a defensive position." Faith outlined. "You are all going to need to start thinking outside the box on ways to defend yourself or fight. And remember, if all else fails, decapitation usually works."

Faith looked around, noticing the shocked and shaken expressions on most of the student's faces as she took another drag from her cigarette.

"Alright. I think I've fried your brains enough for one day. For next class I want you to come up with one way to creatively use one spell you have learnt for a purpose other than what you were taught in an emergency situation. So a spell with an offensive purpose you need to find a way to use it solely defensively without directly affecting the opponent or vice versa. Get out of here, ok?" Faith said, and then added. "Potter, what did you mean that the bad guys would be after you?"

"Haven't you heard, Professor." Ron said bitterly. "Harry's the Boy-Who-Lived, the Chosen One."

"Chosen One huh?" Faith said with a chuckle. "Welcome to the club. Meetings are the third Thursday of every month. They were originally on Tuesdays but the world kept almost ending."

With that, the Boston born Slayer half stalked, half sashayed out of the classroom and into the Professor's office.

* * *

Faith sat in the armchair in her office, taking a drag on a cigarette. God, that was weird, her having an office. Hell, even the thought of her being in a position of responsibility was fucking scary. When G-man had approached her to do this gig, her first thought was that the Watcher had finally lost it. Her second thought, and first question to Giles, had been what had his precious Buffy said when he offered the job to the Blonde Slayer. She had been genuinely surprised when he had replied that Buffy had never been considered for the job. G-man had gone on to explain that Hogwarts would be facing some difficult times, and they required someone who would not flinch at doing what was needed, someone tempered in the fire of pain and suffering, like Faith had been and, she had been surprised to learn, as Giles himself had been.

When she had arrived she had been told that she was to be teaching 'Defence Against the Dark Arts', and was given an outline of what she was expected to teach over the following year. She had taken one glance at it, screwed it up and threw it in the fire. She would have pissed on it just to make a point, but her leather pants were skin tight and it would have taken too long to get them back to justify the effort.

"I don't do magic, I don't follow orders well and I ain't doing that shit." Faith had told the Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress, indicating to the burning course outline. "Teaching specific responses to specific threats is useless unless you know exactly what you are going to face. I'll teach 'em how to survive. I do this my way, or I bail and you deal with whoever the authorities were going to foist on you before you came begging to Giles."

With that she had turned and left the Staff Room. Since then she had done a hell of a lot more forward planning than she had in years, which was probably why she had ended up in prison for a stint. First thing she had done was rearrange the schedule for almost every year level. One of the first things she had heard about when she had been briefed by Giles was the animosity between Slytherin and Gryffindor Houses, yet when she had gotten here, the existing schedule always had those two Houses paired, so she had mixed things up. For First, Third, Fifth and Seventh Years the Lions were paired with the Badgers, while the Second, Fourth and Sixth they were paired with the Ravens.

The clock on the wall chimed and Faith looked up, taking one last drag from her smoke. It was time for the first class with the First Years. Unlike the Fifth Years she had taught that morning, she was not planning on doing the scare and confuse routine. For this one she actually had a proper lesson planned, one she had cobbled together from all the lectures and advice she had gotten from Giles over the years. She walked out of the Professor's Office and into the classroom, and leant against the front of the desk and waited. Under a minute later the first Ravenclaw and Slytherin First Years began filing in and sitting at their desks, most after staring at Faith in shock.

"My name is Professor Lehane and this is Defence class." Faith introduced herself, and then started taking the roll.

Listening to the advice of Giles, she had decided that she would be more formal with the first through third years than she was with the older students.

"You will not require your Wands in this class." Faith ordered, and saw the look of disappointment on the students faces. "Look, I understand that you are all eager to learn whatever spells you can, but there is no such thing as Defence specific spells. Any spells you will ever need to know you will learn in Transfiguration or Charms class. I'm here to teach you how to defend yourself, not to duplicate effort of the other Professors."

"Professor, how are we to defend ourselves if you don't show us what spells to use?" A Ravenclaw Girl asked.

"If I tell you what to use, then that's all you'll be able to do. What if someone does not react how I tell you they could?" Faith asked.

"I don't know." The girl said, looking guilty at her lack of knowledge.

"Exactly." Faith replied. "Don't worry, I will never punish you for not knowing an answer. That's why you are here. To answer, in that scenario, you would lose, or possibly die, depending on the situation. So, no, I will never give you a specific response to use, what I will do this year is to show you how to decide for yourself how to respond. Once you learn how to do that, then you will be ready for any situation."

Faith looked over the faces of the students. The Ravenclaws were, unsurprisingly, eager to learn this, while the Slytherins seemed to be split between sceptical interest and bafflement.

"Now, the first step is something that has both saved my life on a number of occasions and something I have hated with a passion." Faith said, before pausing for effect. "Research."

Faith spent the rest of the lesson with the students brainstorming the best methods of researching a topic. Naturally, being eleven years old, most of them seemed to think research was limited to simply looking in the text book. Some of the Ravenclaws suggested looking in the library for other books on the topic or asking others who had more knowledge. As the class drew to a close, Faith finished up the brainstorming session, having written down the ideas the students had come up with on a blackboard.

"Alright." Faith said. "For homework, I want you find out as much information as you can on Vampires. Just a hint, there is not much in your textbook on them. Write out a summary of what you have found and, more importantly, how you went about finding it."

"How long?" a Ravenclaw boy asked.

That stumped Faith for a second until she remembered that homework length was set in feet of parchment.

"No minimum, it is just a summary. I expect more than a few lines, but don't give me anything huge. I doubt you'll need more than two or three feet." Faith replied.

Faith wondered how they would go. She had arranged with the librarian to have some basic books on vampires, including some fiction novels, put in various areas of the library for this purpose, as she intended to set the same assignment with the Second and Third Years as well as the First Years.

TBC….


	2. Chapter 2

Title: All You Need is Faith.

Author: Knife Hand

Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated

Spoilers: None.

Rating: R

Disclaimer: I do not own either Buffy or Harry Potter.

Summary: In desperation, with the threat of Dolores Umbridge hanging over his head, Dumbledore reaches out to find a new DADA Professor. What he gets is a survivor, a warrior and a rebel… who can't do magic. But maybe this Dark Slayer is exactly what Hogwarts needs.

A/N: I have had some reviews that indicate that Faith should be able to use magic because a Slayer is 'a magical creature'. A Slayer is not 'a magical creature', a Slayer is 'a mystical entity'. Big difference. Ok, if you want to get really technical, a Slayer is a Positive Demonic Possession. Being a Slayer has nothing to do with the form of Magic taught at Hogwarts, though just being a magical creature does not seem to indicate that you can perform magic. Magical Races such as Goblins and House Elves are exactly that, races that can use magic, and the official classification of them as Magical Creatures is simple racism on the part of Pureblood Wizards.

A/N2: I had another review saying that 'tempered in the fire of pain and suffering' would also apply to Buffy after season 7. I disagree. Tempering makes one harder, more able to endure, and that did not happen to Buffy. Buffy in Season 7 refused to learn from her mistakes, blamed others for her poor command decisions and lead everyone into more than one trap while all the real leadership came from Giles, Faith or Xander. Faith genuinely learnt from her mistakes, took her lumps and tried to do better.

* * *

The Fifth Year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs nervously approached the DADA classroom for their second Defence class, the second of three every week, remembering how the Professor had 'ambushed' them last class. They all entered cautiously only to fine Faith sitting on her desk, her legs swinging and a grin on her face as she wave cheekily at each group as they arrived, putting their homework on her desk as they passed. The students took their seats and looked up at the Professor in trepidation. Faith took the role silently, matching the faces against the names that she remembered from the last class.

"Alright, let's get started." Faith said. "What is the technical definition of a weapon?"

There was a moments silence before Hermione raised her hand.

"Granger." Faith said, acknowledging the Gryffindor.

"Any tool designed to inflict harm on another." Hermione answered.

"Not a bad definition." Faith replied. "A quite traditional one. I prefer to define a weapon as anything that can be used to defeat your enemy."

Faith looked around the room and noticed that only Harry Potter seemed to get the importance of the subtle difference in her definition.

"Given that definition, how many weapons do you have on you?" Faith asked. "Weasley?"

"Umm… one? My wand?" Ron replied hesitantly.

"That a question or a statement, Weasley?" Faith asked, as she jumped off the desk and began wandering around the room. "But regardless, that is incorrect. Even keeping with Granger's implication that a weapon is to do harm, if I stripped you naked you would have eleven weapons."

"Eleven?!" Dean Thomas said, in shock.

"Sure. Two feet, two knees, two hands, two elbows, two shoulders and your head. The human body can be quite efficient at causing damage." Faith replied. "As long as you know what you are doing. But don't forget that my definition said 'defeat your enemy' not injure them. Not every situation where you need to 'defend' yourself will involve violence. Sometimes it is verbal, sometimes it is psychological, sometimes it is sexual. Sometimes it is all of them. You would be surprised how many times these puppies have given me an advantage in a fight."

With that last comment Faith, now back standing in front of the class, reached down and gave her breasts a squeeze, causing shock amongst the students, in particular the female students.

"Oh deal with it girls." Faith said. "With a few noticeable exceptions, females are physically weaker then males, so for thousands of years women have used the most potent weapons available to them. Tits and sex. Men on the other hand, usually go the more the physical combat route. There is nothing truer than the old saying 'alls fair in love and war', same goes for politics. Most human interaction is a form of conflict based around our tribal nature. Even the House system here at Hogwarts. It gives the school four tribes and every student a 'them versus us' attitude."

Faith reached into a draw in the desk and pulled out a wicked looking dagger and a… pencil.

"There are two major types of weapons. Crafted weapons and improvised weapons. Crafted weapons are made specifically to do harm to another, an improvised weapon is created for something else but used as a weapon" She explained. "The dagger, is a designed weapon, the pencil is an improvised weapon."

"What is a pencil?" Hannah Abbott asked.

"It is a Muggle writing implement." Hermione replied.

"What's wrong with a quill?" Ron Weasley asked.

"Quite a lot, actually." Faith replied. "They are messy, inefficient, require a lot of maintenance, need separate ink pots. Normal people use pens. Pencils are designed so that what you write can be erased easily."

"There is no way that little thing can be a weapon." Ernie MacMillan countered.

With a flick of her wrist, Faith reversed her grip on the pencil and hurled it across the room where it embedded over half of itself into the far wall.

"Next stupid comment?" Faith said, with a raised eyebrow. "No, good. Now, apart from my dagger, and your wands, can anyone identify any crafted weapons in this room?"

The students looked around the room and, after a few minutes, only two raised their hands. One was Hermione Granger and the other was Harry Potter.

"Ok, Potter. Dazzle me." Fait said.

"Well, obviously the sword that is sitting on top of the bookcase at the back of the room. The quarterstaff by the door to your office. And is that a crossbow by the window?" Harry replied, with most of the class swivelling their heads to follow where he indicated the weapons were.

"Not bad." Faith replied. "Though you missed the hand axe."

She hefted the flint hand axe that was sitting on her desk.

"That's just a rock." Lavender Brown observed.

"Mankind is a violent race and have been since the first fucking cave man picked up a rock and bashed the living shit out of another ones skull." Faith said. "And if you look at the axe it is worked by stone tool, making it a crafted weapon."

Everyone thought about that for a moment and then Hermione, hesitantly, raised her hand.

"Yes Granger?" Faith asked.

"I was just thinking about improvised weapons." Hermione said. "From what you said, potentially anything can be an improvised weapon."

"Finally, they fucking get it." Faith replied. "She's right. Anything can be a weapon, just so long as you can think up a way to use the fucking thing as a weapon. Now some people say shit like throwing dirt in someone's eyes is 'unsporting', well fuck that. When you're fighting for your life, all bets are off, so do whatever you can to win. If they complain about it later, then all the better because it means you are still alive."

Faith pulled herself back up to sit on her desk again and glanced at her watch.

"Ok, that's about time for this lesson." She declared. "For your lesson on Friday, we will be meeting in the Great Hall. And wear the PT uniform that was the new addition to your school uniforms list."

With that she waved the students out of the class. She pulled out her schedule and saw that her next class was Fourth Year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws and a smile crept across her face. She had loved that class last time, solely because of one of the Ravenclaw Students. Man could Lovegood think outside the box. With a bit of training, her unpredictability could make her almost as dangerous as Faith herself in a fight.

TBC…


	3. Chapter 3

Title: All You Need is Faith.

Author: Knife Hand

Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated

Spoilers: None.

Rating: R

Disclaimer: I do not own either Buffy or Harry Potter.

Summary: In desperation, with the threat of Dolores Umbridge hanging over his head, Dumbledore reaches out to find a new DADA Professor. What he gets is a survivor, a warrior and a rebel… who can't do magic. But maybe this Dark Slayer is exactly what Hogwarts needs.

* * *

Most of the Fifth Year Gryffindors, particularly the Pure Bloods, felt a bit uncomfortable in the PT Uniforms they were wearing as they made their way towards the Great Hall for their third Defence lesson of the year. The uniform was the same for both sexes, with a pair of soft red shorts, a red exercise t-shirt with gold sleaves, red and gold striped socks and running shoes. There were more than a few surreptitious glances by the boys at the girls as the PT Uniforms were more revealing than standard robes. Just before they reached the hallway to the Great Hall they met up with the Fifth Year Hufflepuffs who were also in their PT Uniforms with the red and gold replaced by yellow and black. Harry, wondering what the Professor had planned for them and not wanting to get in trouble with Hermione, kept his eyes forward, though he did notice that Susan Bones had quite a nice figure. Ron, unfortunately, was not as subtle as Harry and was openly staring at a couple of Hufflepuff girls until Hermione cuffed him sharply over the head. Upon reaching the doors to the Great Hall, which were closed, the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs were met by the Ravenclaws, in blue and bronze PT Uniforms, and the Slytherins, in their green and silver PT Uniforms.

"What are you doing here, Potter?" Draco asked with a sneer.

"We got Defence Class." Harry replied.

"No, Potter, we have DADA now." Draco replied.

"Actually." A voice interrupted from a side corridor. "You all have Defence Class now."

All of the Fifth Year students turned and stared in shock at Faith who was standing there, dressed in black shorts, black tank top and running shoes.

"Right, all of you, inside." Faith ordered.

"It's closed." Malfoy said, pointing to the door.

"Did any of you try opening it, 'cause it ain't locked." Faith said, pushing the doors open with one finger. "Right, come on."

The Fifth Years followed the Professor into the Great Hall. All of the house tables had been removed and it was now simply a big, empty space with a platform at one end where the Staff table usually stood. The students gathered in clusters based around their houses as Faith stood in front of them.

"I graded your homework. Pathetic, most of you. Insulting even." Faith said, her voice hard and calm and more cutting than if she yelled. "While I may not do Magic I do have a basic grasp of Latin, and I did ask the other Professors for a list of spells you have been taught. Malfoy, you were stupid enough to actually write that you would use the tripping jinx to trip someone. Granger had some interesting ideas and Potter's was quite devious. Bones' answer was something a few friends of mine would do, and there were one or two other decent answers. I am deeply disappointed in the Ravenclaw students though. You are supposed to be smart and the only one in your House who came up with a truly creative idea was a Fourth Year who was not even issued the assignment as homework, instead did it for fun."

"This class is pathetic." Draco said under his breath, but not low enough for Faith's Slayer hearing to miss.

"Malfoy." Faith barked. "Front and centre. That means get up here."

Draco made his way out in front of the class as instructed.

"I understand you think you are better than everyone else here." Faith said. "I assume you have your wand on you."

"Yeah." Draco said.

"Good. Stay there." Faith said, as she moved to a point ten feet from Draco. "I am completely unarmed. I want you to attack me. Use any spell you like."

This caused a wave of surprised muttering through the class and a feral grin to appear on Draco's face. Draco began rattling off spells, pausing for a second between each one, mostly spells learnt at Hogwarts but including one or two spells that only a few of the Slytherins recognised. For the first six spells, Faith simply made the most minimal movement needed to avoid the spell hitting her, then the instant the seventh spell left Draco's wand she was moving and had arrived before he could finish pronouncing his eighth spell, having dodged the seventh during her dash, a plucked Draco's wand out of his hand before pulling it back and pushing down on his back, forcing him into a bent over position with his right arm held painfully extended behind and above him.

"To all appearances, Malfoy had the advantage. A weapon with stand off capability, what appeared to be a tactical advantage of first strike." Faith said letting Draco up and giving him a nudge back to the Slytherins. "Anyone want to tell me where he went wrong?"

"He let you get close." Susan Bones said. "Anything inside about six feet then the opponent can get to you before you can cast."

"He was pausing between spells." Harry added. "Never let up when going on the offensive. He chose spells almost at random. It is better to link spells, where the last movement of one spell leads directly into the first movement of the next spell."

"He underestimated you." Daphne Greengrass, a Slytherin, said. "He assumed because you did not have a wand then you were not a threat."

"We have a winner." Faith said. "As I have said before, the human body is the most adaptable and reliable weapon you will ever posses, because any other weapon you have can be taken off you. If you know how to fight without weapons, or wands, then you will never be unarmed and, like Malfoy here demonstrated, they will think you are harmless. My job here is to help give you skills to face whatever may come your way. There is no ward that prevents you from delivering a kick to the balls. No disarming spell will stop an elbow to the throat."

"We're Magicals." Theodore Nott, a Slytherin, said with a sneer. "We should not have to stoop to Muggle methods. We're better than that."

"Heil Hitler." Faith said, mockingly. "You're human. Nothing more, nothing less. I could kill every single person in this school if I wanted with one hand tied behind my back. Hell, I know a chick who can, literally, wipe out all life on the planet. She's an old school Wicca, doesn't even need any of those pansy Wands you guys wave around. She even tried to do it once when she thought her lover was dead. It was one of those Muggles that you look down on, a man with no magical ability whatsoever but more courage in his little finger than you have in your entire body, who managed to stop her."

"No way!" Draco Malfoy said. "Muggles are weak and pathetic."

"And this Muggle just kicked your ass." Faith shot back.

"How?" Hermione asked. "How did he stop her?"

"With a power a million times stronger than any spell. And that's all I'm going to say on that, expect to point out that both of them are still alive." Faith said. "Now, let's get down to the lesson. Your Friday class will be PT, that is Physical Training. Today we are going to start simple. After warm up we are going to do laps around the hall."

"Running? Wait until my father hears about this." Draco said.

"If you wish, you are free to leave at any time." Faith said.

About half a dozen Slytherins immediately started walking for the door, only to stop when Faith continued.

"Of course if you do leave, you immediately get a failing grade for both the class for the entire year and your OWLs." Faith informed them. "No appeals, no reviews, no Ministerial Intervention. Just an immediate fail."

Most of the departing Slytherins turned and walked back to the group, until Draco was standing alone, half way to the door. With a grunt, the Malfoy heir turned and returned to the group.

"Good." Faith said, with a predatory grin. "And while we run, I'll explain to you the Chinese concept of Chi."

TBC…


	4. Chapter 4

Title: All You Need is Faith.

Author: Knife Hand

Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated

Spoilers: None.

Rating: R

Disclaimer: I do not own either Buffy or Harry Potter.

Summary: In desperation, with the threat of Dolores Umbridge hanging over his head, Dumbledore reaches out to find a new DADA Professor. What he gets is a survivor, a warrior and a rebel… who can't do magic. But maybe this Dark Slayer is exactly what Hogwarts needs.

A/N: apologies in advance for the dense dialogue in this chapter. If you are familiar with the subject matter, then sorry for rehashing it, if not then you might learn something.

* * *

Faith and the Fourth Year Ravenclaw Gryffindor Defence class were all standing around a model of a mountainous pass and a coastal area beyond.

"Ok, this is the pass of Thermopylae in northern Greece, which roughly translates to The Hot Gates." Faith explained, gesturing to the model. "This is one of the most famous battles in history. There were about four thousand Greeks, led by King Leonidas of Sparta and his three hundred bodyguard. On the other side were the Persians, led by King Xerces. While some historical sources claim there were a Million Persians, there were probably only one hundred to one hundred and fifty thousand."

Faith was walking around the model, which took up a large portion of the classroom. She could see some interest from the Gryffindors, they were supposed to be the brave ones, while most of the Ravenclaws were thoughtful, perhaps thinking that things should be more fair.

"The Greeks were Hoplites, heavily armed infantry with large bronze shields and long spears, and they fought in a tight formation called a Phalanx, each man protecting the man's shield protecting the man to his right and a veritable wall of spear points. The Persians on the other hand were mostly a mix of archers and light infantry with wicker shields. It was the Greeks who chose this place to fight. Anyone want to tell me why they would choose this spot?" Faith asked.

The students studied the model for a moment as Faith continued to stroll.

"No ideas at all?" Faith asked again.

"Did it limit the number of men that the Persians could use at any one time?" Ginny Weasley asked.

"It did indeed." Faith said. "The Greeks set up at the narrowest point of the pass and let the Persians come to them. For two full days the Greeks held out inflicting terrible losses on the Persians and rotating out their Phalanxes to give the men a rest. At dawn on the third day, it was revealed that a Greek traitor had shown the Persians a way around the Greek position. Once the Greeks found out about the encircling Persians, most of them left the field to return to their own City States, but approximately fifteen hundred Greeks, including all of the Spartans, stayed as a rear guard. Now most of the Greek Hoplites were Citizen Soldiers. They were not full time soldiers, but were Potters, Blacksmiths, Weavers and all the other trades that kept a City State running and only went to war when necessary. The Spartans on the other hand were full time Soldiers. Their profession was War."

Faith was using a pointer to show the Movement of the Persians and the position of the remaining Greeks.

"On the final day, the Greeks did not wait for the Persians, instead charged out to meet them. A few soldiers from the City State of Thebes surrendered but the rest of the defenders died to the last man. So my question to you is… which side won?" Faith asked.

"Obviously the Persians won." A Gryffindor boy said. "They drove the Greeks from the battlefield and killed those who remained."

"No. The Greeks won." Luna Lovegood countered, getting derisive laughs from most of the class.

"Why do you think the Greeks won?" Faith asked.

"The Greeks were buying time." Luna explained. "At first to simply delay the Persians and on the last day to allow the other Greeks to get away."

"But the Persians took the field. That means they won." The Gryffindor boy argued.

"Actually you both are right." Faith replied. "From their own perspective, both sides won the battle of Thermopylae. It is a matter of how you define winning. In immediate terms, the Persians won by defeating the defenders marching into Greece. But for King Leonidas the ultimate goal was never to completely destroy the Persian army, though if the Greeks had held out another day or two then a lack of food could have forced the Persians to retreat."

Faith gazed over the students, many of whom were stunned to hear that 'Loony' Lovegood was right.

"On the final day in particular, the Spartan King's goal was twofold. First was to inspire, through example, the rest of Greece to rise up and oppose the Persians, because at this time Greece was a patchwork of City States that fought each other as much as they did the Persians and some City States openly supported the Persians. His second goal was to demoralise the Persian soldiers. In this Leonidas was extremely successful. The Greeks had a number of victories both on land and at sea following the battle and approximately one year after Thermopylae a pair of battles, Plataea on land and Mycale at sea finally crushed the Persian invasion." Faith conclude and then gestured at the model. "So… what have you learnt from this?"

There was silence for a moment before Ginny raised her hand and Faith nodded to her to proceed.

"The location of where to fight can make a lot of difference in the outcome. If the Greeks did not have the pass to funnel the Persians, then they could not have countered such a difference in the number of men." Ginny answered.

"Good. Anything else?" Faith prompted.

"Victory is not the only way to win." Luna said.

"Absolutely." Faith said. "That is one of the most important lesson you can ever learn. Sometimes there is something that is more important than your own life. Figuring out what a 'win' for both yourself and your opponent is vital. If you don't know what that 'win' is, then you can kill your enemy and still lose. There are some cases where dying is even vital to achieving that 'win'."

The bell for the end of class rang.

"We'll save that for another time." Faith said. "Dismissed."

The Fourth Years picked up their gear, which had been put at the back of the room, and left for lunch. Faith just hoped McGonagall was not going to be too long in showing up to shrink the model so Faith could store it back in her office.

* * *

Faith sat on her desk in front of the Fifth Year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs, having just pulled the cover off the magical artefact standing next to her desk.

"It's a mirror." Shamus said.

"Yep." Faith replied, popping the p sound. "I also have it facing the wall for your own safety. Now I believe Potter and Weasley are familiar with this particular mirror. They can have a go if they want, but everyone else is to come up and look in the mirror for one minute. I will be timing and will drag you away if need be. You don't need to talk about what you see in The Mirror. Finnegan, you're up first."

There was a gamut of emotions that crossed the students faces as they looked into the Mirror or Erised. Confusion. Hope. Excitement. Need. Most students were able to pull themselves away when she called time, but two needed Faith to shake them out of their trance.

"Apart from Potter, Weasley and Granger, can anyone tell me what this Mirror does?" she asked after everyone had their go looking in the mirror.

"It shows the future." One student said.

"Can't be. I saw the past." Susan Bones countered.

There was a moment of confused silence, where Faith rolled her eyes.

"Potter, enlighten us." Faith instructed.

"It's the Mirror of Erised. It shows the deepest desire of the viewer's heart. What it shows is not true, merely what we want the most." Harry replied.

A few of the students blushed at that explanation.

"This is probably one of the most dangerous items I will ever bring into this classroom." Faith said. "This show the biggest weakness that most people have, even those who are prepared to fight. Most people are unaware that their desires can be used against them and the deepest wounds can be emotional rather than physical. The other side is an attack through your fears, but I understand one of your previous Professors had you face a Boggart. There is no way to fully protect yourself from emotional attacks but knowing your desires and fears will assist in recognising these kind of attacks and help counter them. I have seen some mighty warriors break when their desires were waved in front of them and others who were not proficient fighters face their deepest fear and force that fear to submit to them."

"Then how do we protect ourselves?" Hannah Abbott asked.

"Easiest way?" Faith said with a shrug. "You don't. Easiest way is to protect each other. What makes one person weak can have no effect on another, or even make another stronger."

Jumping off the desk, Faith went to retrieve the cover for the mirror and glanced into it for a second.

"If you don't mind me asking, Professor, what do you see in the Mirror?" Potter asked.

"A chance long past." Faith replied. "Class dismissed."

The students filed out and Faith took last long look in the mirror before throwing the cover over it. The afterimage still echoed in her mind. A crocked smile, a strong arm around her shoulders, soulful brown eyes. A small red dress, hair like her own in pigtails, his eyes, her own grin in a tiny face, small hands clutching around her legs. What could have been… what she destroyed before it could be.

TBC….


	5. Chapter 5

Title: All You Need is Faith.

Author: Knife Hand

Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated

Spoilers: None.

Rating: R

Disclaimer: I do not own either Buffy or Harry Potter.

Summary: In desperation, with the threat of Dolores Umbridge hanging over his head, Dumbledore reaches out to find a new DADA Professor. What he gets is a survivor, a warrior and a rebel… who can't do magic. But maybe this Dark Slayer is exactly what Hogwarts needs.

A/N: I thought that Faith's Mirror of Erised image was clear, but some people thought that the little girl was a young Faith or a child Faith aborted. It was Faith in a happy relationship with Xander and a daughter. The reference to Faith 'destroying' it was a reference to kicking Xander out and not giving him a chance.

A/N2: Sorry about the dense dialogue in this chapter.

* * *

Faith sat leaning back on her chair with her feet up on the teacher's table as she took a sip from the soup that was in her mug. It was lunch time and the other Professor's had given up trying to get her to keep her feet off the table. The large mug was a present from Xander. It was black with a large red heart pierced by a stake on one side and 'Faith Lehane, breaking hearts in all the right ways' on the other.

Lowering the cup back to her lap, she surveyed the Great Hall and all the students eating their lunches. The Sixth Years were all dressed in their PE Uniforms as they had their PE Defence class just before lunch. Her eyes darted to her favourite students around the Hall. Potter and Granger made a good team, him brave her smart, kind of reminding her of X and Red. Bones had the stability and backbone to make a good fighter. The Weasley Twins could think outside the box. Luna Lovegood did not even realise there was a box.

The doors to the Great Hall burst open and a dozen adult Witches and Wizards 'marched' in, being led by a short man in an awful green bowler hat and a pudgy woman in bright pink, which made Faith want to either claw her own eyes out or Slay the offending woman.

"Minister Fudge." Dumbledore said standing from his throne like chair. "To what do we owe this pleasure?"

"Don't play games, Dumbledore." The pink woman said. "You've gone too far this time and the Ministry is not going to sit by and let you undermine our way of life."

"I assume the Pink Horror is talking about me." Faith said, taking another sip of her soup.

"Do you know who you are talking to, Muggle." The pink woman said. "I am…"

"Someone who has absolutely no authority over me." Faith replied.

"You work for Hogwarts." The woman said. "Hogwarts answers to the Ministry."

"Madam Umbridge…" Dumbledore began before he was interrupted by Faith's laugh.

"That's a good one." Faith said and then saw Umbridge's expression. "Oh, you were serious. That's so cute."

Everyone was staring at Faith now, who simply shook her head in exacerbation.

"Sounds like it is time for a History Lesson. Ok, who knows when Hogwarts was founded?" Faith asked and looked around. "Weasley Twins, give it to me in Stereo."

"About 921 to 927." The Twins said in unison.

"Close enough. It was actually June 24th 924." Faith replied. "When was the precursor of Ministry of Magic formed? Granger?"

"1074 as a magical version of the Council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics for William the Conquer." Hermione replied.

"Is there a point to all of this?" Minister Fudge said.

"The point, Minister, is that like Berwick Upon Tweed, Hogwarts and its surrounds are of Magical Brittan but not part of it." Faith replied. "In simple terms, for the Government Officials in the room, The Ministry has no authority over Hogwarts at all."

"And how would a simple Muggle like you know anything about such matters?" Umbridge asked with a sneer.

"I'm not a Muggle." Faith replied with a feral grin. "I am Faith Lehane, a Senior Slayer of the Council of Watchers."

"That means nothing." Umbridge said.

"Actually it means a hell of a lot, you stupid bitch." Faith snapped, standing up from behind the Teacher's table. "The Council is the arbiter of the King's Justice over the Magical Oath Breakers. It means I could break every bone in your body and the only thing that would happen is I would have to explain to my bosses why I felt the need."

"We are the Chosen, the superior." Umbridge declared.

"What did the Goblins do before the last so called 'rebellion'?" Faith asked.

"What does it matter? We defeated them." Umbridge countered.

"Just answer." Faith insisted.

"I believe they were craftsmen." Umbridge replied. "So what?"

"And now they control your economy and can cripple you by closing their doors. Sounds like they won to me." Faith summarised. "You don't even know your own history do you? You hid yourselves away because you were scared."

"Muggle's don't scare us." Fudge said.

"Not Muggles." Faith said. "The true enemy. The Demons. Magicals were created to help the Slayers fight the Demons, Oath Bound, but you Magicals got scared to fight, made lazy by the Magic gifted to you and hid yourselves away. Perhaps it is time we took the Magic back."

"Get her!" Umbridge yelled.

Two of the Aurors who had accompanied the Minister stepped forward and drew their wands. In seconds Faith was over the table and had disarmed the two Aurors, knocked them to the ground, grabbed Fudge by the throat and had a knife point millimetres from Umbridge's right eye.

"I will kill you if I have to." Faith said, her voice hard and level. "I have killed before, demons and humans alike. My Calling is to protect the World. If you get in the way of my Calling, you will die. I suggest you leave now."

Faith could clearly see the fear in both Fudge and Umbridge's eyes as she removed her hand from Fudge's throat. The Ministry personnel bid a hasty retreat.

"Minister Fudge will still make trouble." Dumbledore said once the Ministry people were gone.

"One second." Faith said, before pulling a phone out of her pocket and dialled a number. "Hey G-Man. If it's good enough for Boytoy then it's good enough for me. No, I didn't call just to piss you off. Minister Fudge-packer and a Pink Horror came by to try and kick me out. No, none of them are dead. Stuff it, English. I had to tell them off and give them a History Lesson. Threatened them with pulling their Mojo in front of the whole school. Nah, they're all listening. They look like they've never seen someone talk on a mobile before. Yeah well Red Mojo'd it, so it's cool. We're going to need someone to follow up. Think Red can arrange to revoke from Fudge-packer and the Pink Horror exclusively? Yeah well get the stuffies to look into it, cause I actually like some of these kids. Yeah I know. Say hey to B, X and D for me. Yeah, see ya."

Putting the phone away, Faith saw everyone was staring at her.

"You all have ten seconds to get back to your meals or we all go for ten laps around the Black Lake… at my pace." Faith announced.

In three seconds everyone, including the Professors, was staring hard at their plate as they ate. Faith walked back around the Teacher's Table, sat down, put her feet back up on the table and took another sip of her soup.

TBC…


End file.
